St Catherine’s Church and the Telegraph Hill Centre –
Working together for the good of all

The story so far

In the spring of 2017, the Telegraph Hill Centre and St Catherine’s church began to raise awareness about the financial pressures we were facing.

The autumn of 2016 had seen some seriously hefty bills – chiefly a brand new heating system for the Centre in both the communal areas and in the studios, and some significant tree surgery work – amounting to a total of £85K.

The work was essential – the boiler had been condemned and the trees were diseased and unsafe. We were awarded £20K worth of grants and paid for the rest of the works on a 50/50 basis from our respective reserves. This seriously depleted our funds.

We asked the local community for help

During the 2017 Telegraph Hill Festival we launched a low key, fundraising appeal.

We raised £13K through some significant personal donations, spare change in buckets at various events at the Festival and the children from St Catherine’s did a sponsored Fun Run.

We were bowled over!

We are very grateful for every pound we received

We continued the call for funds, and by the close of April 2018 we had raised £31,000 in total!

Thank you to everyone who donated.

We had already paid the bills, which depleted our reserves. That meant there was very little money to continue our programme of regeneration in the Centre.

We’re now investing in the future of our community and ensuring that all the good things which spring from St Catherine’s Church and Telegraph Hill Centre can continue to thrive.

So what investment will we make over the next three years?

• Some exceptional one-off capital investments in areas like fire safety and new work spaces, that will make a huge difference to the safety and user-experience of Centre users, ensure our future financial viability and underscore our commitment to future generations
• Improvements to accessibility, ensuring everyone can make use of the facilities available in Telegraph Hill Centre
• Improvement to facilities such as kitchens, lighting and toilets need improvement, tables and chairs will need to be replaced
• More audio visual equipment e.g. projectors/screens
• Improvements to the gardens and green spaces
• We have listened to people asking for a defibrillator and other services

We’d love to do it all. But we also have to be realistic and do what we can in stages while maintaining ongoing access to the Centre.

Some of this will be achieved through the funds we raised from the Fundraising Appeal, some through special one off events, some through grants, and some from our own reserves.

Whatever your connection to us: a fitness class, Telegraph Hill Festival, the annual Panto, provision for children and older people, one-off events, the Hill Station, church services and related events – we’re so grateful for all your help.

#LoveTelegraphHill

If you would still like to donate, all you have to do is go to https://localgiving.org/charity/st-catherines-church/ and make your donation, taking care to ensure that we are able to claim Gift Aid when you are prompted.

Thank you for reading.

Thank you for considering helping us.

Thank you for all you’re already doing.

Thank you for being part of this great community.

All good wishes,

Rev. Sheridan James

Vicar of St Catherine’s on behalf of St Catherine’s PCC and the Telegraph Hill Centre Steering Group. The Vicarage, 102A Pepys Road, London, SE15 5SG